Gathering Strength For U.S. Manufacturing: Whirlpool Moves Production Of Washers To Ohio From Mexico
Source: Forbes
12/20/2013 @ 8:35AM
Gathering Strength For U.S. Manufacturing: Whirlpool Moves Production Of Washers To Ohio From Mexico
A bit more good news for American manufacturing as Whirlpool announced it would move its commercial washing-machine production from Mexico to the United States.
According to a press release, Whirlpool will shift production of its commercial front-load machines from Monterrey, Mexico to Clyde, Ohio. At 2.4 million square feet, the Clyde plant is the largest washing-machine factory in the world. Operations are due to begin in April, 2014. The Wall Street Journal first reported the story.
Whirlpool said the relocation will make the company more efficient, since 90% of the commercial machines are sold in the U.S. (the rest are sold in Europe, Latin America and Asia). Manufacturing them in Ohio will allow the company to tie more directly into U.S. logistics, and avoid having to ship the units across the border.
About 80-100 jobs will be created in Ohio, the company said. It currently employs 15,000 U.S. manufacturing workers and says it is committed to spending $1 billion from 2010-2014 to expand its manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
Whirlpool is among a number of U.S. companies
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danbigman/2013/12/20/another-sign-of-gathering-strength-for-u-s-manufacturing-as-whirlpool-moves-production-of-washers-to-ohio-from-mexico/
reformist2
(9,841 posts)All it tells me is that rural America now has roughly the same standard/cost of living as Mexico.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I cynically thought the same thing.
Hopefully it means that companies are figuring out that Made in the USA is a big draw to customers. Fingers crossed.
Flatulo
(5,005 posts)I could be that the cost of Mexican labor, plus the cost of shipping and sourcing parts in a foreign country are now more than American wages.
Still, I'm glad to hear that the jobs are coming here.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)That they will be low paying, non union jobs.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Are starting to wake up to the fact that chasing cheap labor all over the globe is not the great idea they once thought it was.
Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)I think this is an indication that they've made the US labor pool desperate enough to work for a pittance. I'd bet a buck to a cops donut that they'll pay LESS than when they'd previously built these machines in the USA.
progressoid
(49,996 posts)okaawhatever
(9,462 posts)safety reforms. With some American computer and cell phone manufacturers they're having problems with the Chinese installing malware/worms/hardware to collect data directly into the computers. I heard Apple say that X amount of computers came here and straight out of the box had bugs in them. I say that because there are a lot of reasons manufacturing will start moving back. Security is a factor, and the costs aren't what they used to be.
pampango
(24,692 posts)ago. These countries pay high wages but make their economies work and keep their middle classes strong.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)xfundy
(5,105 posts)Guess I'm in a mood. But nothing would surprise me.
doc03
(35,362 posts)probably our number one customer at Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel up until they moved south
for cheap labor back in the late 70 s.
Botany
(70,566 posts).... outside of the US.
This could mean lots of jobs.
loudsue
(14,087 posts)That's who I got my dishwasher from.
Botany
(70,566 posts)German company but made in America w/American made parts
Best dishwasher I have ever had
loudsue
(14,087 posts)I'm glad more people are buying them!
Botany
(70,566 posts)skilled labor force, close to good rail, shipping, and train transportation, and Ohio needs the jobs too.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)And they had a lot more than 80-100 people working there at the time.
asjr
(10,479 posts)HoneychildMooseMoss
(251 posts)which at one time employed 4500 workers.
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/whirlpool-withdrawal-in-fort-smith-careers-shattered/Content?oid=2552554
Mopar151
(9,992 posts)Other costs (JMHO - bribes, extortion, armed guards) tend to balance the lower wages in Mexico. IIRC $6/hr in Mexico = $20/hr US
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)This is good news. Not a whole lot of jobs, but every job counts.
With only 200 employees, I wonder whether this is an assembly plant or really the manufacturing facility.
Botany
(70,566 posts)... make sure to buy an american made one for your home.
No Vested Interest
(5,167 posts)This is even better - in Ohio, my state.
I would prefer American-owned, given the choice.
I will be purchasing a GE range today - not sure of its manufacturing locale, but I need it ASAP - before Christmas to heat/cook our christmas dinner.
My current stove is ca 40 years - A Whirlpool made in Dayton, Ohio when GM owned Whirlpool (that's what I was told by salesman who looked at it. My repair man says to stick with the older products as they are so much better made, but, alas, the oven thermostat has gone out and there are none available for that older model.
Well, anyway, a local salesman will get a commission from my purchase.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Bradical79
(4,490 posts)and shipping costs are high enough, that this is their least expensive option. It's all a math formula. I wonder what the workers will get paid?
Andy823
(11,495 posts)The place I buy from is local and the owner sells Speed Queen plus Maytag and Whirlpool, which are both owned by the same company. The owner told me that Maytag and Whirlpool were not as good as they used to be, and since Speed Queen was made in the USA, I bought it instead of one of the others. It had a better warranty, 3 full years on everything, than the other two. So far we love it.
Skeeter Barnes
(994 posts)benld74
(9,909 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)... just as soon as the UNIONS were busted, and wages and benefits were reduced to 3rd World levels.
Ross was right,
but Bill was smooooth.
Sorry, Virginia,
but there is NO such thing as "Free Trade.
There is no such thing as a "Free Market",
and there certainly is NO All Powerful "Invisible Hand" that protects you.
The RICH made that shit up,
and used smooth talking politicians to sell it to naive Americans.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)That Ross Perot was ahead of his time.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)mountain grammy
(26,644 posts)But, as a billionaire businessman, I felt he had a "privatize government" agenda and that worried me.
But I believed NAFTA to be poor policy for America and he almost got my vote. Stuck with Clinton.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Turns out he was exactly right about everything.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Bill Clinton was so smooth that he was able to tell America that competing with 3rd World Slave Labor Countries for our jobs, and would produce MORE and Higher Paying jobs here at home,
....and we believed him.
So smooth that some people STILL believe him despite the cold, hard evidence spread across our nation.
pampango
(24,692 posts)US manufacturing employment has kept going down since 1955 and manufacturing output has kept going up. If NAFTA had taken effect in 1955 you might be able to blame it.
Long term trends simply continued. It did not take a genius to predict that.